Making your game unique is a challenge that every game designer faces. You want to create something that stands out from the crowd, that engages your players, and that expresses your vision. But how do you achieve that? In this article, we will explore some game design principles and strategies that can help you make your game unique.
The core loop is the basic cycle of actions that your players repeat throughout your game. It defines the gameplay, the feedback, and the rewards. To make your game unique, you need to identify your core loop and make sure it is fun, satisfying, and coherent. You can also experiment with different variations, twists, and combinations of core loops to create different experiences.
All these articles makes no sense ??. The core loop is super important but it has nothing to do with making your game unique. The first thing you need to do is asking why you want to make your game unique ? Does it actually help the player experience ? Or the selling? Is a special challenge for yourself ? Understanding why you want to make your game unique is very important, you shouldn't force uniqueness without a real reason. Once you know the reason, you need to ask yourself what kind of uniqueness do you want, is unique in the world building ? In the mechanics? In the tech? In the monetarization system? Visually unique ? Uniqueness requires time and money, so a project can't be unique in all its elements
I disagree with the core loop being the beginning, mostly because the core loop may or may not be unique even in a 'unique game.' You as a designer should ask first and foremost: what is the experience you want the player to have? Develop the game as an experience for the player (what emotion should they have? should they have tension here? etc), make sure the team finds the foundation exciting (unique = exciting to develop), and go from there.
The hook is the element that catches your players' attention and makes them want to play your game. It can be a story, a mechanic, a theme, a character, or anything else that sparks curiosity and interest. To find your hook, you need to think about what makes your game different from others, what problems it solves, what emotions it evokes, and what questions it raises. You also need to communicate your hook clearly and effectively in your marketing and presentation.
Let's understand the differences between uniqueness, gimmick and hook. A hook is something that makes your game interesting for a specific type of players, a game can have many hooks (hooks are not necessarily unique or special). Hooks are usually the things that you try to flash out in the trailer. Gimmick are variations of mechanics that don't highly impact the gameplay which are added to increase the perception of uniqueness of the game, for example I do a battle royal game but with 101 players, I can say the first BR game with 101 players, that (with good marketing) could sound more unique or creative than a classic BR, but in truth is just a gimmick. Real uniqueness is something that require a lot of resources to be created.
Your audience is the group of people who are most likely to enjoy your game and become your fans. To define your audience, you need to do some research and analysis of your target market, their preferences, their needs, and their expectations. You also need to test your game with your audience and get feedback from them. By defining your audience, you can tailor your game to their tastes and desires, and create a unique bond with them.
Your audience can be a great help to create something unique. An brainstorm force yourself to design a game that tries to satisfy the needs of two opposing audiences (opposite design) this will force you to think outside the box. The result might not be the best design ever, nonetheless it could contain the seed of something truly unique
Constraints are the limitations that you impose on yourself or that you face during your game development process. They can be technical, budgetary, artistic, or thematic. Constraints can help you make your game unique by forcing you to be creative, innovative, and focused. They can also help you avoid feature creep, scope creep, and overcomplication. You can use constraints as a source of inspiration, challenge, and differentiation.
Limitations are great, for brainstorming purposes try to add as many as possible and weird ones like: don't use the colour blue, the letter WASD and equivalent cannot be used, the game has only one sound, etc. Is possible that your brainstorm results will not be great with all these limits, but that's fine inside those idea you could find something that could be expanded in a proper game
Constraints are good. If every game developer could build a Skyrim in a day we might end up worse than we are now. Having limited resources and a team with unique skillset is what will help to make your game unlike any other. Is person on your team good at sports? Music? Cooking? Know everything about Greek myths? Use it to your advantage and look for ideas in areas of knowledge where no one ever looked.
Experimentation and iteration are the processes of trying out new ideas, testing them, evaluating them, and improving them. They are essential for making your game unique, as they allow you to explore different possibilities, discover new solutions, and refine your vision. You can experiment and iterate with different aspects of your game, such as mechanics, aesthetics, narrative, sound, and user interface. You can also use tools like prototypes, mockups, and playtests to facilitate your experimentation and iteration.
Every game starts with idea, but original idea is almost never survives more than few iteration on prototype. Don't hold to the idea. Instead try different things and see what sticks. It's not gonna be the game you imagine on day 1, but result will surprise you!
Learning from others is the process of studying and analyzing other games, designers, genres, and trends. It can help you make your game unique by exposing you to different perspectives, influences, and lessons. You can learn from others by playing, reading, watching, listening, and discussing various games and game design topics. You can also use tools like reviews, postmortems, podcasts, and blogs to learn from others. However, you should not copy or imitate others, but rather use them as a source of inspiration, critique, and comparison.